UW gets funds for ocean-floor facility

SEATTLE – The University of Washington on Wednesday received $2.2 million to plan an ambitious underwater research facility to study the ocean floor off the coast of Washington and Oregon.

Scientists say it will be the world’s first ocean observatory to span a tectonic plate, a huge section of the earth’s crust.

The National Science Foundation directed the money to the university, which is in line to receive another $130 million if all needed permits and approvals are obtained.

The research facility would initially include four sites, or nodes, connected by more than 850 miles of cable to transmit data, video and images. The idea is to collect vast amounts of information that could improve scientists’ understanding of weather forecasting, the management of fish stocks, the ocean’s ability to absorb greenhouse gases, and how stresses on the sea floor cause earthquakes and tsunamis.

Steve Bohlen, president of the Washington-based Joint Oceanographic Institutions, said the project represents the greatest leap in ocean study since ships started taking ocean measurements in the 1870s.

“This is the beginning of a new revolution,” Bohlen told the Seattle Times. “It’s new science, it’s big science, and it’s big risk. But that’s how we make big scientific advances.”

UW scientist John Delaney has been dreaming of such a lab for almost 25 years.

“These new approaches are going to revolutionize not only how we humans look at oceans and the Earth, but eventually – in the time of our children’s children – the way we manage our entire planet,” Delaney said.